Mironov Speaks of Russia’s Position over Military Bases

Sergey Mironov, the Chairman of the Council of Federation, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, said on April 22 in Tbilisi that Russia is ready to pull its military bases out of Batumi and Akhalkalaki by January 1, 2009.

Sergey Mironov was speaking at a joint news conference with his Georgian counterpart Nino Burjanadze, after the two met with Georgian parliamentarians.

“Russia has offered to pull out all the servicemen and military hardware from Akhalkalaki military base by January 1, 2008. And we also want to consider a proposal over the withdrawal of military hardware from the Batumi military bases by this date as well – January 1, 2008 and to completely close down the base [in Batumi] by January 1, 2009… If we take into consideration the fact that a year ago the Russian side was talking about 11 years for these bases’ withdrawal, then this [new proposal] is clear progress,” Sergey Mironov said.

“As far as I know, the Georgian side has not yet responded positively to this proposal. But I believe that a compromise, which will be favorable for both Georgia and Russia, will be found,” he added.

Sergey Mironov also said that “the most important thing is that Russia has a strong position that these bases should be pulled out. Now we are speaking about a timeframe and a civilized withdrawal of these bases.”

Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze expressed hope that a breakthrough will be reached over the timeframe of the bases’ withdrawal during talks between Georgian and Russian Foreign Minister, which will be held in Moscow on April 25-26. 

“I hope that a timeframe will be agreed on before May 15, because our future relations will largely depend on it,” Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said at a news conference.

The Georgian Parliament adopted a resolution on March 10 which instructs the Georgian government to enforce a number of measures, including halting the issuing of visas to the Russian servicemen, in the event that the two sides fail to reach an agreement over a “reasonable” timeframe for the withdrawal of the Russian bases before May 15, 2005.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)